Common Defenses When You’re Injured On Someone’s Property

If you’re on someone’s property, and you’re injured on their property, it may seem like an open and shut, so-called “easy case.” It’s clear that something was wrong with the property, and that it caused you injury. So what could the Defendant possibly say, to defend their claim, and try to deny you compensation for your injuries?

What is Premises Liability?

Let’s first clarify what we mean by being injured on someone’s property. You can be injured in a number of ways.

Perhaps most well known, is falling on a substance or an object, but even accidents like items falling from above and on to you, or negligent security claims where you are a victim of a criminal attack, all can be classified as being injured on someone’s property—more commonly known as premises liability.

Comparative Negligence-Blaming You

One thing that property owners do is blame you, the victim. They will say that you didn’t look where you were going. They may say that you were somewhere that you weren’t supposed to be. They may even blame the shoes you were wearing when you fell, believe it or not.

Similar to blaming you, is what is known as open and obvious conditions. Defendants will say that whenever injured you—say, a spill on the floor that you fell on, or an object that was left in a walking aisle—could have and should have been seen and noticed by you. In some cases, like a clearly marked curb, or a step up or down, open and obvious can be a powerful defense, and it’s up to the jury to determine to what extent you could have and should have seen whatever it is that injured you.

Lack of Knowledge

In premises liability cases, a victim needs to prove that they either knew of the dangerous condition, should have known about it, or else, that the Defendant created a condition where it was foreseeable that someone could get injured.

Defendants will often argue that they had no idea that whatever injured you, was there. Or else, they will say that the dangerous condition was hidden from them, or that it existed for such a short amount of time, that they couldn’t have observed it, and fixed or cleaned the dangerous condition.

Blaming Others

Often, when something on someone’s property is defective or dangerous, it may be because of third party companies. For example, a third party cleaning crew may not fully clean a flooring surface. A company that stacks shelves, may leave an item in a precarious position. A security company may allow a criminal actor to come on the property and commit a violent crime.

Defendants like to point the finger to these other companies, leaving you to try to figure out who is ultimately responsible for the condition that caused you injury.

Were you injured on someone else’s property?  Contact our Rhode Island injury lawyers at Robert E. Craven & Associates at 401-453-2700 for help.

Source:

advocatemagazine.com/article/2022-march/don-t-trip-over-these-common-premises-liability-defenses